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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (19990)	11/22/2002 9:18:47 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 27666

Miss World riots 'leave 100 dead' news.bbc.co.uk Clashes two years ago led to Kaduna being segregated At least 100 people are now known to have died in riots in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna over the Miss World beauty contest, according to Red Cross officials. A heavy security presence has been imposed after protests started by Muslim youths which also left hundreds injured. Nigeria: Hosting Miss World after Miss Nigeria won last year's contest They began after a newspaper suggested that the Prophet Mohammed would have probably chosen to marry one of the Miss World contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant - which Nigeria is hosting. The contest's organisers said on Friday they intend to go ahead with the event despite the protests. Further sporadic clashes were reported on Friday despite the deployment of the hundreds of police and soldiers and the imposition of a curfew. On Thursday, thousands of Muslim youths rampaged through the suburbs of the city, putting up barricades of burning tyres, setting fire to buildings, and attacking churches. According to the Associated Press news agency, thousands of people have sought refuge in army bases and police stations. Kaduna is one of Nigeria's most volatile cities; more than 2,000 people died there in clashes between Christians and Muslims two years ago. Muslim groups complain that the contest is immoral and degrading to women, and are also angry that preliminary events began during the holy month of Ramadan. About 90 contestants are in Nigeria for the Miss World events, which are only taking place in southern areas which are largely Christian. On Friday, mobs of minority Christian youths were reported to be retaliating against Muslims, and an overnight curfew was extended. Red Cross spokesman George Bennett told the BBC that medical teams were working to give first aid to the injured, and that scores of bodies had been identified amid the debris. Four hospitals in the city were coping with hundreds of casualties from the rioting that spread through many districts. Armed security men have been posted all over the city, stopping and searching people. A death sentence imposed on an unmarried mother prompted a boycott The trouble in Kaduna escalated on Thursday after an attack the previous day by hundreds of people chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) on the office of ThisDay newspaper, which printed the offending article. Schools and shops hurriedly closed as crowds of young men ignited makeshift street barricades, sending up plumes of black smoke. Four churches were said to have been destroyed, shops looted and cars overturned and burned. Local mosques had been calling for action against the paper and some people were alerted to the article by text messages sent to their mobile phones, correspondents say. Religious leaders are meeting representatives of the state and federal governments in Kaduna to discuss ways of lowering the tension, a spokesman told the French news agency AFP. Amid fears that the unrest could spread, security forces were expected to be on heightened alert for during Friday prayers in Kano, the north's biggest city, Reuters news agency said. Dogged by controversy The Nigerian government has appealed for calm and has assured Muslims that those responsible for the article, which appeared in ThisDay newspaper, would be brought to book, for exceeding "the bounds of responsible journalism." ThisDay has retracted the offending article and has published apologies. The chairman of the group that owns the Lagos-based paper suggested that a computer glitch could have been to blame for the fact that the story went to press in the first place. The holding of the Miss World contest in Nigeria has also provoked international controversy. It had been threatened by a boycott by beauty queens after a woman convicted of adultery, Amina Lawal, was sentenced to death by a Sharia court. The Nigerian Government moved to calm fears by promising it would not allow any Nigerian to be stoned to death. Have you witnessed the violence in Kaduna? Send us your experiences using the form below.